| All-America Selections » Anna's Overlook » Birds and Bees Walk » Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory » Community Gardens » Dryland Mesa » El Pomar Waterway » Endangered Species » Flytrap Feast » Gates Montane Garden » Herb Garden » Japanese Garden » June's PlantAsia » Lainie's Cutting Garden » Laura Smith Porter Plains Garden » Le Potager Lilac Garden » May Bonfils-Stanton Memorial Rose Garden » Oak Grove » O'Fallon Perennial Walk » Ornamental Grasses Garden » Parking Garage and Streetscape » Plant Select Garden » Rock Alpine Garden » Romantic Gardens » Sacred Earth » Scripture Garden » Shady Lane » South African Plaza » Water Gardens » Water-Smart Garden » Welcome Garden » Western Panoramas » Wildflower Treasures » Woodland Mosaic » Yuccarama » | All-America Selections (AAS) Garden
Botanical interest: The AAS Garden features premier garden annuals from the All-America Selections program. The AAS program promotes new garden seed varieties with superior garden performance judged in impartial trials in North America. Founded in 1933, over 700 plants have been introduced through this program. The AAS Garden at the Gardens features latest and past years’ introductions, which includes annual bedding plants and vegetables. Anna's Overlook
Botanical interest: The pyramid's slopes feature buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), native grasses that thrive on less water than traditional Kentucky bluegrass. On the east side are additional water-wise plants, including ice plant (Delosperma), a colorful and popular succulent ground cover. Birds and Bees Walk
Botanical interest: This is a pollinator garden showcasing plant reproduction and pollination. Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory
Botanical interest: The Boettcher Memorial Conservatory is one of the most unique and compelling displays of tropical plants featuring thousands of exotic specimens from the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Various food plants add special interest, including bananas (Musa spp.), chocolate (Theobroma cacao) and coffee (Coffea arabica). Children's Secret Path
The Childrens' Secret path is no longer in existence. Our new Mordecai Children's Garden will open in the fall of 2010.
The Cloud Forest Tree
The Cloud Forest Tree is no longer at the Gardens. Our new Greenhouse Complex will open by the end of 2010.
Community Gardens
Especially for gardeners: The Community Gardens provide urban garden space for residents of the Denver community. Gardeners come together to share their knowledge of organic gardening while creating community and beautifying their neighborhood. Creating compost, attending garden workdays, donating vegetables and hosting community social events are just a few of the gardeners' efforts.
Lainie's Cutting Garden
Drop-Dead Red Border
Botanical interest: Red hued plants and flowers.
Dryland Mesa
Botanical interest: Cacti, yuccas and other xeric plants, including many trees and shrubs.
El Pomar Waterway
Botanical interest: The bottlebrush-like flowers of the Oriental fountain grass (Pennisetum orientale ‘Karley Rose’) line the full length of the reflective pool, while vertical beech trees (Fagus sylvatica ‘Dawyck’) and blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) softens the border along the south wall.
Endangered Species
Botanical interest: Rare and endangered plants from Colorado's West Slope.
Flytrap Feast
Botanical interest: Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) and pitcher plants (Sarracenia spp.).
Gates Montane Garden
Botanical interest: The garden features trees and shrubs from Colorado’s montane life zone including Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) and aspen (Populus tremuloides).
GreenCO Mile High Garden
Botanical interest: This garden was an innovative, water-smart demonstration garden that educated the public on sustainable gardening practices for our semi-arid region. This garden was disassembled in 2008 to prepare for the new Bonfils-Stanton Visitor Center.
Herb Garden
Botanical interest: Herbs in over 150 varieties grow in this intimate garden.
Japanese Garden (Shofu-en -- the Garden of Wind and Pines)
Botanical interest: Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) from Roosevelt National Forest (pine signify longevity and happiness in Japanese gardens).
June's PlantAsia
Botanical interest: June's PlantAsia features eastern Asian plants such as peonies, bamboos, wild herbs, Japanese umbrella pines (Sciadopitys verticillata), wild plants collected in Pakistan, voodoo lilies (Typhonium venosum) and experimental cultivars of plants. A lush woodland area displays Himalayan and lacebark pines (Pinus wallichiana, Pinus bungeana) and over a dozen kinds of Asian maple.
Le Potager Garden
Botanical interest: Artistic garden design and agriculture combine for a culinary masterpiece of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers in the Le Potager Garden.
Laura Smith Porter Plains Garden
Botanical interest: Prairie grasses and wildflowers. In early summer, wild flax (Linum lewisii) presents its airy blue flowers. Prairie penstemons include Penstemon angustifolius (blue), P. ambiguus (pink), P. secundiflorus (pink) and P. virens (purple). These penstemons have small tubular flowers arranged in vertical spires.
Lilac Garden
Botanical interest: A collection of almost 80 different varieties of lilacs (genus Syringa), over 200 cultivars of iris and over 150 cultivars of daylilies, creates a tapestry of color from early spring through mid summer. Daffodils representing the 13 divisions also bloom on the hillsides in early to mid spring.
May Bonfils-Stanton Memorial Rose Garden
Botanical interest: About 175 different varieties of roses and other heirloom flowers including Clematis and Delphinium.
Monet Garden
Botanical interest: A breathtaking collection of bulbs, annuals and perennials inspired by the French impressionist painter.
Oak Grove
Botanical interest: For many people, the oak is the quintessential tree. Oak trees are large, long-lived, disease-resistant and beautiful. In this naturalistic woodland setting, you’ll find many species and hybrid oaks.
O'Fallon Perennial Walk
Don’t miss: A superb place to begin a leisurely stroll through the Gardens, the Perennial Walk is a traditional version of a European perennial border lush with flowers packed closely together to create a rich and interesting array of colors, heights, shapes and textures.
Rock Alpine Garden
Botanical interest: Home to over 2,300 species of plants, this internationally acclaimed garden is a premier example of the art of rock gardening.
Ornamental Grasses Garden
Botanical interest: Over 50 varieties of ornamental grasses are growing in this garden.
Romantic Gardens
Botanical interest: A collection of four gardens is a delightful adventure for the senses.
Sacred Earth
Botanical interest: Plants used by American Indians of the Four Corners region.
Sensory Garden/Morrison Center
The Sensory Garden will be moving during the summer of 2010. Please e-mail us at horticulture@botanicgardens.org for more information. It will be a public demonstration garden, where visitors can participate in horticultural therapy or learn about gardening in containers and small spaces at home. Here you will be able to find a garden that offers not only beauty, but also a model for accessible landscape design and "healing gardens" at nursing homes, hospitals, prisons and other facilities. Scripture Garden
Botanical interest: This secluded and peaceful garden features plants referenced in ancient religious texts.
Shady Lane
Botanical interest: Shady Lane comes alive with the blooms of more than fifteen varieties of crabapples in the spring.
South African Plaza
Botanical interest: Plants and flowers of South Africa including calla lilies, Agapanthus, Delosperma, red hot pokers, asparagus fern and geraniums.
Victorian Secret Garden
Botanical interest: This garden pays homage to the golden age of plant exploration in the late 1800s in Europe, when it was fashionable to create opulent tropical gardens to show off personal wealth and exotic plant collections.
Water-Smart Garden
Botanical interest: Plants from semi-arid climate of the West and other areas of the world that have a similar climate to Colorado’s, including the Mediterranean, South Africa, South America and Central Asia.
Water Gardens
Don't miss: An extensive waterway system, which meanders throughout the Gardens has become home to an aquatic collection of more than 450 species and varieties. Though located in a semi-arid climate, the Gardens has become one of the world's leaders in aquatic gardening and display of aquatic plants.
Western Panoramas
Botanical interest: Western Panoramas displays dominant tree species from three of our Colorado life zones: plains, foothills and subalpine. Bristlecone Border Botanical interest: Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines (Pinus aristata) from the subalpine life zone (10,000-11,500 ft). In their natural environment, stands of bristlecone pines can be found at timberline in windy, exposed areas. Cottonwood Border Botanical interest: Cottonwoods (Populus deltoides ssp. monilifera) from the plains life zone (3,500-6,000 ft). Of the few trees species found on the plains, these broad-leafed trees are the largest. Ponderosa Border Botanical interest: Ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) from the foothills life zone (6,000-8,000 ft.). The main path of this garden is lined with young native species and cultivars of the ponderosa pine. Ponderosa pines have a longer needle than any other native conifer in the region. Their needles are four to seven inches in length and grow in bunches of two or three.
Wildflower Treasures
Botanical interest: Native Colorado wildflowers including rare and endangered species that represent the native flora of many Colorado counties.
Woodland Mosaic
Botanical interest: Woodland trees, shrubs and perennials.
Plant Select Garden
Welcome Garden
Botanical interest: The new Welcome Garden serves as a gateway to what lays beyond the gates with elements of a Colorado landscape up close. Interesting hardscape features in the garden include sandstone walls, flowing water, a gathering place with strategically placed seating, and landscape rocks. The plantings around the garden consist of many native plants intermingled with ornamental cultivars. Planter beds sprinkled throughout the garden add color featuring annuals and perennials. Parking Garage and Streetscape
Botanical interest: The Streetscape along York Street from 11th Avenue creates an entryway that informs the visitor that they have reached their destination. Street trees lining York Street were selected to create a procession through ornamental groupings. Fence structures trained with vines provide vertical interest. Ornamental planter beds and containers add color through plantings of annuals, bulbs and perennials. Yuccarama
Botanical interest: Yucca and members of the agave family. |
















































